


Happy New Years

by loogandthemaidenofwind



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, New Years!!, Party, Romance, awkward crushes, everyone can see their crushes but them, its a party - Freeform, might hate this later, oh well, raylas a dork, so is callum, theyre all dumb, ye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:42:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28471818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loogandthemaidenofwind/pseuds/loogandthemaidenofwind
Summary: Rayla acting on her feelings, just in time for New Years.It's at a party too.Just a little oneshot I wanted to do for New Years.Happy New Year!!
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 41





	Happy New Years

Looking at herself in the mirror, Rayla wondered if this was a good idea.

The dress was certainly a place to start. It was a simple sleeveless black dress that fell to her knees, complete with navy and turquoise accents. She didn’t want it to look like she was trying _too_ hard, although looking at herself now, she was sure that she’d failed.

Not to mention the silver necklace and earrings, the sharp eyeliner, and the smidge of lip gloss...

Well, whatever. She decided that it was _fine_ , and left her room to walk down the stairs. She and her surrogate dads, Runaan and Ethari, were going to Callum’s New Years party. Normally they’d spend it with her parents, but…

Rayla pushed the thought out of her mind.

Runaan and Ethari were already downstairs, talking quietly, but stopped when Rayla came in. Ethari had somehow gotten Runaan to wear a suit jacket to match his. He looked like some sort of well-dressed government assassin.

“You look beautiful, Rayla!” Ethari told her. “Ready to go?”

Rayla breathed in and out. She could do this.

“Let’s go.”

\--

When they rang the doorbell, Rayla began having doubts.

Was the dress too much? Surely it was. She felt herself getting nauseous. She bet everyone else at the party was in casual wear and she showed up in this stupid dress.

But before she could grab Runaan and Ethari and run away, the door swung open, and all her fears melted away.

Callum was there, his face brightening as he saw her. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

“Rayla!”

“Hey,” Rayla said, trying not to sound like she cared too much. She heard Ethari laugh a little behind her and assumed that she failed.

“Right this way!” Callum beckoned. He took Rayla’s jacket and led her inside by the hand, chattering excitedly already. “You’re gonna love it. Dad helped with the food, and we got really good apple cider for the countdown. And we can play Smash Bros and Uno and-”

Runaan cleared his throat loudly from behind them. “Mind taking _our_ coats, boy?”

Callum blushed right down to his ears, which Rayla found rather cute. “Oh, sorry!”

He grabbed their jackets and ran off to a coat rack, giving Ethari room to swat Runaan’s arm. “Be nice to him,” he warned.

Runaan huffed once, but didn’t say anything as Callum rejoined them. “Um. Anyway. All the adults are down that hall.” He gestured over to a hall on their right. Rayla could hear happy voices and the clinking of glasses coming from it.

Ethari looped his arm through Runaan’s and pulled him down the hall, shooting Rayla and Callum an apologetic grin for his husband’s acts.

“He’s scary,” Callum muttered once Runaan was out of earshot. He looked so cute, Rayla suddenly realized, dressed up in a blue button-down shirt and black pants. His scarf was still wrapped around his neck.

“You get used to it at some point.” Rayla grabbed Callum’s hand, noticing too late that it seemed more romantic than she’d thought. “Well? Let’s go up.”

Callum didn’t say anything about their joined hands, just gently pulled her up the stairs. Every second their hands were connected, her heart seemed to trip and stutter faster and faster.

Callum and Ezran’s room was bright and full of people. Rayla recognized Kasef from school in the corner, scrolling through his phone and ignoring everyone else. Soren and Claudia were sitting on the rug, playing an intense game of Uno. Ezran and Bait were sitting on the bed with a stack of jelly tarts that they were sharing. Rayla recognized two of Ezran’s friends, Aanya and Ellis, who were playing with Ellis’ giant dog Ava (who they were pretty sure was a wolf).

Everyone except Kasef looked up as Rayla and Callum reentered the room. “Hey, Rayla!” Claudia waved at her from the floor.

“Hi.” Rayla smiled tightly at Claudia. She wouldn’t deny being a little jealous of her; she knew Callum used to have a crush on her for years, and some part of her worried that Callum still liked her. But she didn’t want that to seep into their friendship. Claudia made amazing pancakes, and she wasn’t giving up a friend like that.

Ezran smiled at her, Bait croaked grumpily. “You’re the last one here. Callum seemed pretty excited to see you!”

“ _Pretty_ excited?” Soren snorted.”He was tripping all over himself to get downstairs when the doorbell rang-”

Callum cleared his throat loudly, avoiding Rayla’s gaze and effectively cutting off Soren’s speech. “Well! Is your match done yet?”

“Well, I’m about to beat Claudia.” Soren waved his final card triumphantly. “I have one card here and Clauds has two-”

“Lose a turn, and I win!” Claudia laughed, playing her two final cards in rapid succession,

Soren gaped at the pile of cards while everyone else laughed at him. Callum and Rayla sat down on the rug with everyone else, knees just touching in a way that was so close and so far away at the same time.

“Ready to be beaten, Rayla?” Callum asked confidently, picking up the cards to shuffle them.

“Bring it.”

\---

Callum sighed in frustration as Rayla played another +2. “Are you kidding? I was about to win!”

“That’s how you play.”

Claudia had won their game, with Ezran coming in second, Aanya coming in third, Ellis coming in fourth, and Soren snatching fifth place. Now Rayla and Callum were battling it out for sixth place. The air of competition was tense, the air of their feelings making it even tenser.

Everyone had grown tired of watching them. Ezran, Ellis, and Aanya had started playing Monopoly, and Soren and Claudia were both on their phones. It was down to Rayla and Callum to finish.

Callum played a number card and Rayla played one too, triumphantly calling out “Uno!”

“Oh, no you don’t.” Callum played a +4 of all things. “Uno, color changes to red.”

“No fair!” Rayla complained.

“That’s how you play.”

Sadly, Rayla had no cards left to play. She reluctantly drew a card from the pile as Callum threw down his final card.

“I win!” he cheered. Everyone else snapped their heads up, eager now that they were finally done.

Rayla congratulated Callum, not really used to losing. An awkward ball of feelings was rising in her stomach, and she found that she was sweating a little. What was wrong with her?

But before anyone could start another game, Harrow’s voice rang up from downstairs.

“Food time, kids!”

\---

At dinner, Callum wedged himself between Rayla and Claudia with a plate that was loaded with food. “How’re the potatoes?”

Rayla looked back at him through a mouthful of potatoes, covering her mouth with a hand as she chewed. Callum burst into giggles at the sight of her stuffed cheeks, which she really couldn’t blame him for.

She finally swallowed it down. “Really good,” she said. “Who made this?”

Harrow beamed at her from across the table. “I did! I’m glad you like it.”

Rayla smiled at him, already having shoved more food into her mouth.

Everyone made light chit chat, not wanting to do anything but eat. Harrow called the baker to come join them, but he declined, claiming that he had to watch over the jelly tarts. Rayla was sure that she saw Ezran sneaking in and out of the kitchen as Harrow and the baker talked, though.

The dinner ended with Soren and Rayla having a food-eating competition, which she just about won. Everyone was laughing and cheering them on, with even the grumpy Kasef clapping along. But Rayla thought that Callum’s smile was the thing that really motivated her to win.

The second that thought entered her head, she blushed and groaned at herself. _Rayla, get over yourself_.

\---

After thoroughly beating everyone at Super Smash Bros., it was time for the countdown.

Rayla was swept into the living room in a tide of people rushing in. Harrow had a big countdown clock set up, and everyone was gathered around it, passing drinks around and talking excitedly. Rayla lingered off to the side, accepting a glass of apple cider from Callum and feeling nervous butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

Everyone knew what happened when the countdown ended. Couples were expected to kiss…

She glanced at Callum next to her. Was she really going to kiss him? She couldn’t do that. How embarrassing would that be? But the idea tempted her more than she’d like to admit.

However, her train of thought was cut off by Harrow’s merry yelling. “Time for the countdown, everyone! Get ready!”

Everyone raised their glasses in response, all eyes fixed on the countdown clock.

Rayla’s heart beat faster and faster with every second that passed by.

“5!”

Callum was standing right next to her, cheering along.

“4!”

Rayla’s heart was almost fluttering out of her chest.

“3!”

Callum was standing with her, she realized. Not Claudia.

“2!”

His eyes were closed, his smile wide. He looked beautiful, perfect. He looked like all she ever wanted.

“1!”

Rayla leaned forward and kissed Callum full on the mouth.

“Happy new year!”

For a few awful seconds, she was kissing him with no contact back. Callum was frozen against her, shocked into stillness, and disappointment began clouding her judgement and her heart. This was a horrible idea. This was _such_ a horrible idea.

But just as she was about to pull back and run away, Callum wrapped his arms around her waist and held onto her. And then he was kissing her back, _kissing her in return_ , kissing her with such warmth and full force that it made her gasp just a little. They melted in the heat of their kiss, pressing closer together.

And then, it softened. They slowly let themselves separate from the other, still holding onto each other with wide eyes and flushed faces.

 _Oh my god_ , Rayla thought.

_I am so lucky Runaan didn’t see that._

“Rayla?” Callum asked softly. His face was bright red and had the dorkiest wonderstruck expression on it, but he still seemed to be glowing.

Rayla suddenly felt extremely flustered.

“I… sorry,” she scrambled to explain. “I just… I thought that…”

“No, no! It’s okay!” Callum exclaimed, his voice cracking a little. “Uh, here. Follow me.”

He led her through the crowd of ecstatic people to the balcony outside for some privacy. It was a sharp contrast from the bright and warm interior of the house. It was cold and dark, the silvery moon being the only source of light. It was freezing cold too, leaving Rayla shivering and rubbing her arms for warmth. The quiet was almost overwhelming, the sounds of the party muffled behind them.

Callum took a deep breath and turned to face her. “Listen, Rayla, I-”

“Just admit you don’t want me and we’ll get it over with,” Rayla muttered bitterly. In all her life, she didn’t think she’d ever been _this_ humiliated. She turned away from him, preparing to go back inside.

“Wait, wait.” Much to her surprise, Callum grabbed her hands, beckoning for her to stay. They were so warm compared to hers, and they were soft too. “That’s not what I meant. Rayla, I want to… I mean, I liked that kiss… wait, no, that sounded weird. I…”

He broke off for a second before bursting into nervous laughter that made Rayla laugh too. This whole situation was so ridiculously _stupid._

Once they’d collected themselves, Callum continued his spiel. “I’m sorry. I’m… really bad at this, heh. But what I’m trying to say is that I like you too. A lot. I mean, a lot lot. Like more than a friend-”

Rayla cut off his rambling with a finger to his lips. “I get the picture, dummy,” she laughed. “In that case, wanna go out sometime?”

The silver moonlight managed to illuminate Callum’s blush. _Cute_. “Yeah! Yes. I’d love to.”

They kissed again under the moon, pressing close against each other. Rayla could feel Callum’s heart pounding under his scarf and smiled against his lips.

“Happy new year, Rayla.”

“Happy new year, Callum.”

**Author's Note:**

> Runaan did see them kiss, but Ethari held him back.
> 
> Comment, kudos, and everything. Thanks for reading!! <3


End file.
